Thursday, December 27, 2012

Stupidity

I have not been able to blog for a long time, partly because
of the holidays, but mostly because I have come to the conclusion that
everything about American politics, government, and society has become so
stupid it is hardly worth the effort to comment any longer. Of course I realize
that I have done stupid things in the past, and continue to do stupid things
now, but for the moment this is not about my personal stupidity. When
commenting on American stupidity it is difficult to know where to begin.

First, I should try to define what I mean by stupid, so let
us turn to the online dictionary:

I should say that virtually all of these meanings apply to
our current sociopolitical scene in one way or another. Consider a somewhat
simple case, the Iowa Supreme Court decision that a woman could be fired from
her job by being overly attractive and hence a threat to the marriage of her
boss (apparently the wife of the boss complained). Shades of consortium! It was
the case that men used to be able to sue for loss of consortium if their wife
for some reason could no longer engage in sex. Wives, however, were not allowed
to sue for the loss. I’m sure that in some jurisdictions this no longer applies
but I would not be at all surprised if
it still exists in some others. But the point here is, could a man be fired for
being too attractive if a husband complained? You can be pretty sure this would
never happen. Further, if this decision was taken as a precedent, virtually
everyone would be at the mercy of their employer’s spouse, a truly stupid idea
when carried to its more or less logical conclusion.

Another example of stupid, more important, is the case of
Iran. It seems that most everyone these days insists that “we must do something
about Iran.” Iran is not to be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb. This is
stupidity raised to a very high level. First, there is no evidence Iran is very
close to developing a nuclear bomb or the capacity to deliver it even if it had
one. Second, there is absolutely no reason to believe that if Iran had such a
bomb it would immediately set out to attack anyone with it. The Iranians are
not crazy, they know that surrounded by others with already developed nuclear
capabilities, plus the constant threat they endure from Israel and the U.S.,
their use of a bomb would result in their almost immediate destruction. Thus
the constant drumbeat against Iran is just
plain stupid (unless, of course, there is some ulterior motive for it
which might well be the case).

It would be pretty hard to find an idea more stupid that the
latest NRA proposal to arm our teachers and/or provide armed guards for every
school in the country. The idea that you might reduce gun violence by the
addition of more guns is truly stupid on the face of it. Children are not only
vulnerable in schools, but also on playgrounds, skating rinks, movies, and on
and on, why should they not have armed guards everywhere? And of course the
idea that a teacher armed with a gun would be able to defeat someone determined
to attack a schoolroom is rather stupid to begin with, unless they, too, were
heavily armed with an assault rifle, in which case the killings would most
probably increase. The NRA wants us to become an armed camp with everyone
packing some form of “heat,” thus completely militarizing our already
over-militarized society and, of course, selling more guns for the gun
manufacturers. Indeed, this idea might be considered the mother of all stupid
ideas.

Finally, for the moment at least, the idea that you can have
a government run by politicians who can be legally bribed to do the bidding of
gun and other manufacturers, corporations and wealthy individuals, is intrinsically
stupid. Our so-called “public servants” are no longer that, but are simply
private individuals out for themselves and the interests that are bribing them.
Public service is no longer a motive for governing, what is good for the public
is no longer of interest to our so-called “leaders.” Our highly touted
“democracy” is no longer a democracy at
all, it has little or nothing to do with the will of the people and they no
longer have much control over it. If the goal and purpose of “government” is to
provide for the needs of its citizens our current government is stupid, stupid,
stupid, little more than a joke concocted by a malevolent supernatural, perhaps
for his/her/its amusement (if you believe in such things as supernatural
beings).

Will we go over the (mythical) fiscal cliff, another stupid
idea being manipulated by a gang of stupid individuals elected by a stupid
electorates in mostly in stupid states for stupid reasons having little or
nothing to do with what they seems to regard as stupid reality made up by
stupid scientists stupidly trying to deceive us into believing stupid ideas
such as global warming and environmental protection. It is all, I fear, too
stupid for words. Or, perhaps I am just too stupid to understand it.

2 comments:

Just a thought… you should continue to blog precisely because everything about American politics, government, and society has become so stupid. For a "voice of reason" to go silent in the face of all this stupidity would be tragic. I continue to blog and to read progressive blogs because that, along with my personal network of friends, gives me some hope, thus fighting the hopelessness you blogged about earlier. There are few blogs where the voice of the author is as clear and consistent as here. You combat stupidity with clarity, logic, and an openness to empirical evidence. For that I am a grateful reader.

Many years ago, during the run up to the 1992 election, I opined to my room-mate that we must be a nation of idiots, because only an idiot looks to a fool for guidance and leadership. Like your previous post, it is a difficult position we find ourselves in; the situation is, for all intents and purposes, hopeless. We are condemned to choosing between evils; and as we belatedly discovered sometimes the lesser of the two evils is more evil than we can bear.